Fati di Angeli (Fate of Angels)
by Nightmares of the Soul
Summary: The threat to the Planet has been stopped, thanks to the members of AVALANCHE, and peace once more reigns. But within the lives of those heroes, there stirs a new feeling - hope for some, and tragedy for others.
1. Un Viaggio del Core (A Journey of the He...

Final Fantasy VII and all characters thereof are the property of Squaresoft

Final Fantasy VII and all characters thereof are the property of Squaresoft.

Fati di Angeli _A fanfic by Kaitou _

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Un Viaggio del Core (Journey of the Heart) 

"He's gone, Vincent." 

The sudden interruption of his dreams jolted Vincent Valentine out of his semi-dozing state. Sitting up quickly, he took in the sight before him - Tifa Lockheart was wearily leaning against the entrance to his room in the ShinRa mansion, her trademark white tanktop torn and dirty, her head down, her breath coming in short gasps. He asked the question even though he knew the answer... "Who, Tifa?" 

Tifa looked up, her beautiful hazel eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears. "Cloud. He's left me." 

* * *

Cloud Strife jumped off his Chocobo and raced up the steps to Yuffie and Reno's home in Wutai. He stalked straight into the living room and grabbed Reno's shoulders. "Is it true? Is what you called me about TRUE!?" 

Reno gave his characteristic smirk and brushed Cloud's hands off of his shoulders. "Yes, its true." He walked over to the bar and poured himself some sake. "I was in Mideel two days ago on Turk business - Reeve sent us to see how the repairs were going. While I was there, a girl was rushed into the infirmary..." 

Cloud stepped forward. "Aeris!?" His eyes brightened. "Was she ok? What was going on?" 

Reno turned, and Cloud was treated to a nice whiff of Reno's favorite whiskey. "Shut up and let me finish my damn story. Anyway, so they carry this girl by me on a stretcher, yelling something about mako poisoning. Now, as a Neo-Midgar high-level employee, I found that interesting. So I followed them." He turned his back to Cloud. "By the time they let me in, she was coming round slightly...certainly looked like your pal, the Ancient - pink dress and all. She was awake long enough to say one thing - 'Cloud.' Then she went unconscious." Reno turned his back to Cloud as he said, "But what about your girlfriend, that Ti-" Cloud was gone. Reno shook his head, then stiffened as he heard his girlfriend enter the room. 

"RENOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled Yuffie Kisaragi - right before she decked him. "Do you know what you've DONE!?" The short ninja's beaded hair band clicked as she shook her head at him in frustration. 

Reno looked up groggily. "Reunited old friends?" 

Yuffie frowned. "No. You've just ruined Tifa Lockheart's life. 

* * *

Vincent stood and rather clumsily put his good hand on Tifa's shoulder, well aware of his casual and rather underdressed state. Normally swathed in layers of clothing, he had foregone them for simple black pants and a black tanktop. It had been along time since he had given away emotion, especially consolation, so he was surprised when the young woman threw her arms around his waist and cried into his chest. He stepped back involuntarily and Tifa pulled away. "I'm...sorry. I'm real sorry," she said, wiping the tears off her face. "I didn't know who else to turn to that didn't, y'know, live right around me...and since you...well, since you lost a loved one as well, I thought you were the best choice." 

Vincent crossed his arms. "So, this is the true Tifa." 

Tifa looked up. "Huh?" She let Vincent guide her to a huge cushy armchair near his fireplace, and he took the chair he had been dozing in, right across from her. 

"You always _pretended_ to be so happy." As Tifa jerked her head up again to protest, Vincent gave her one of his rare smiles. "People think because I am quiet, I do not pay attention. That's wrong. I pay attention. I saw how you smiled whenever someone looked at you, how you winced through it when Cloud would speak of Aeris." Tifa bowed her head slightly. "I know you love him, I know you always have. And you pretended not to care that he was in mourning for a dead woman, a year after her death, even when he was living with you." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Tifa...that couldn't have been easy." He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees, his magnificent ebony hair falling down over his shoulders. "Somehow...I both admire and pity you for it. 

Tifa looked up, and Vincent was startled by the depth of emotion in her eyes, eyes that had always looked so happy. He had known so much of it was fake, but still...seeing her eyes this way reminded him painfully of his own self. In her eyes he saw reflected the years of pain and torment he had inflicted upon himself, and at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to save her from the same. Her soft, toneless words brought him out of his reverie. 

"It was...it was like having a third person in my house, Vincent." She stared into the fireplace. "No matter what...she was there." 

* * *

Cloud Strife raced across the ocean on his Gold Chocobo. _Please, God, any god, let it be her...let her be back..._ Heedless of the chill salt spray whipping into his face, he pressed the Chocobo even harder towards Mideel...and the hope of finding that part of him that had died so many years ago. 

* * *

"No matter what I did to dispel her memory...it was there." Tifa continued to study the flames, which were calm compared to the turmoil in her heart. "In his mind and mine...no matter what anyone thinks, I loved her too, she was my friend. I hurt when she died..." She looked back at Vincent. "But not like Cloud hurt. He hurt because...because..." she choked on her own words, then forced them out. "Because he had lost the only woman he had ever loved. And I knew it...I knew it when I invited him to stay with me, when I invited him to work at the bar, when I invited him to my bed. I knew it was a desperate act to become that memory...become that woman he wanted, he loved. But it didn't happen. Even that time by the Highwind...it was her name he called. I think in that moment he thought it was Aeris." Vincent winced. "But you know...for some reason, I pretended he hadn't done it. I pretended all along that it was my name he'd said...my body he reached for...my love he needed." 

* * *

Cloud burst into the Mideel infirmary, heedless of the doctor's protestations. The smell of sickness hit him immediately, and he paused an instant before demanding, "Where is she?" 

The doctor, caught off guard, stammered, "W...Who? Are you by any chance looking for the girl in pink, She's in the..." He hadn't even finished the words and Cloud had moved. 

Tearing back the curtain, he realized his dream was true - there she lay, pale and asleep, but it was her, and she was breathing. 

"Aeris," he whispered. 


	2. Notte e Sogni (Night and Dreams)

The night came, as it must always come, and with it brought troubled sleep and dreams to two women - dreams of the same man, o

Fati di Angeli

_a fanfiction by Kaitou_

_ _

Chapter 2: Notte e Sogni 

The night came, as it must always come, and with it brought troubled sleep and dreams to two women - dreams of the same man, of things that had been, were, and will be... 

Tifa awoke with a start, the sheets soaked with sweat from her nightmare, not realizing where she was. As the fog of sleep cleared from her mind, she realized where she was...the ShinRa mansion in what had been her hometown. Uncaring of the hour and those who may still sleep, she let out a long moan of despair and buried her face in her hands. For if she was here...he truly had gone. The shirt she borrowed from Vincent to sleep in clung to her body with sweat, chilling her as night air rushed in from the open window of the bedroom. She stood and walked over to the window, wishing to close it, but instead found herself standing in the chill wintry air that blew in from the Nibel mountains, the bottom of the shirt rippling around her thighs with the breeze. She crossed her arms over her chest, remembering her dream... 

Her reverie was interrupted by a soft knock at the semi-open door. She made no answer, and after a moment Vincent walked in soundlessly to stand beside her. "You called for Cloud...since he is…unavailable, I decided to come instead." When the woman next to him afforded no answer, Vincent cast a sidelong glance her way. Tears flowed freely, but she made no sound. For the first time ever, he was seeing Tifa Lockheart without all the little trappings that had made her seem so happy...her hair was uncombed and unrestrained, and fell to the back of her knees in a semi-tousled mess. Her face was free of any makeup - she hardly wore any at all anyway, but the lack of even the littlest bit of lip gloss made her seem more like the woman-child she was, rather than the cynical woman she tried to be. For all her outer and inner strength, Tifa had her weak points. And Cloud Strife was one of them. Vincent silently cursed the man for his thoughtlessness. What Cloud had done was beyond wrong - toying with the emotions of a woman who loved him so much she'd literally brought him back from the edge of death, destroying her self-confidence and love. Vincent had never been one for outward emotional displays - not anymore - but Tifa had been one of his more favoured friends. She was always sympathetic to the others, ready to listen, and her strength pulled them through more than one pinch. Yet he was now seeing her as she truly was...tired, lonely, and at the end of her rope. He knew her feeling all too well. He was snapped back to reality as she shivered unconciously. He reached out and slowly closed the window. "Tifa...you should go back to bed." No answer. "Tifa?" 

At a loss of what else to do, Vincent Valentine, who had never known the touch of a woman in years, reached out his arm and drew the chilled woman to his side.

Cloud leaned over the tiny hospital bed and brushed the wisps of hair from Aeris' face. "Aeris? Aeris, wake upplease wake up." He was rewarded with nothing, merely the sound of her shallow breathing. Sighing, he stood and turned to the doctor. "What are her chances?" 

The doctor shrugged. "About the same as yours were, I suppose.if I had to give a percentage, I'd say there's a 30% chance she'll return to normal. But it really depends on her will to…live…" His words began to fade as he stared, openmouthed, at Aeris' bed. 

"C…Cloud? Is it really you?" He turned, and was greeted with the sight he'd longed for so long to see - Aeris' aquamarine eyes open, shining with life. The doctor eased out of the room and shut the door, and Cloud gave Aeris the only answer he could manage at the moment, taking her in his arms and holing her tight against him. "Oh, Cloud. I heard you calling me. They let me come back because they heard you too." He reached up and began to stroke her hair softly. 

"Aeris I've missed you so badly.It wasn't until you were gone that I realized how very much I needed you." His tears began to seep down and stain the shoulder of her dress as he hugged her closer to him, closing his eyes to feel her in his arms and to let himself realize she truly was there once more.

Aeris lifted his head of her shoulder and looked into his eyes, smiling at him as she wiped away his tears. "Don't cry Cloud…even if I hadn't come back, I wasn't sad where I was. I had no regrets." She brushed a strand of hair from his face. "What I did, I did for not only you, but for everyone on the Planet. I died happy knowing I had convinced Holy to act for the world." She smiled softly. "The only regret I may have had was not saying goodbye to you properly." Aeris caught her breath as Cloud once more pulled her to him tightly. She didn't dare hope that he had finally come to love her…did she? 

"Aeris…" Cloud pulled away from her and studied her face. "I can't tell you how much I've missed you…I...I don't know how to say it." Slowly, Cloud pulled her to him and kissed her as he'd always wanted to.

"Tifa?" Vincent squeezed the woman's arm lightly. "Tifa, we've been here for an hour now…you need rest." He looked over at her, and pulled back a little, startled. He was so used to the cold, he hadn't noticed it, but Tifa, though ignoring it had. Her lips were slightly blue and she was shivering. "Tifa, come one…if you don't move, I'll make you." She turned her head to gaze at him dispassionately.

"Vincent, I will be fine. You return to bed." She turned her face back to the window, staring at the mountains where, in truth, it had all begun. She was not prepared for what happened next.

Sighing, Vincent threw an arm under her knees and behind her head and carried her to the bed. He set her down gently and drew the covers up to her shoulders, then turned to close the window. He latched it firmly and went to leave, turning just once more to look at Tifa. She was huddled up on top of the covers, still shivering. He turned to leave once more, but something pulled him back. He silently pulled down the coverlet and sheet and put them over Tifa, then slid between the sheet and the coverlet and pulled the pained woman close to his body. "Go to sleep, Tifa." He rested his chin on top of her head and closed his eyes.

Tifa laid awake for a long time, feeling the warmth of another person, of Vincent, against her back. His clawed hand rested gently over her waist, easily but firmly assuring she would stay and rest. Finally, she could no longer keep her eyes open, and merciful sleep calmed her senses at last.


End file.
